Ch.1[Episode 1] Happy Death

“Hmm.”

Though anyone can understand the cruelty and brutality of the battlefield, none would know it like this man.

His dry, brown hair was already covered with dried reddish-brown blood, and his shield and sword had lost their sharpness and agility, caked with unidentifiable clumps.

“Hmm.”

Yet the man smiled. Though he had already lost one eye long ago, making his smile lopsided, he smiled nonetheless.

It was a bright smile ill-suited for war, but if one looked deeper, they might think it unsuited for war in an entirely different sense.

“Hmm.”

He smiled very slowly. But his hands remained swift enough to strike down the demon before him.

“Hmm.”

The demon before him split in two. Each time this happened, the man smiled.

“Hmm.”

With an utterly happy smile and a cheerful tone.

“What are you all doing?! Stop him immediately!”

One of the demons, larger than the others, shouted.

The demons rushed toward the man after hearing the large one’s command, but they weren’t the only ones who heard it.

The man slowly turned his head.

Wiping away the hair that clung unpleasantly to his cheek with the back of his hand, he stared at the shouting demon with blazing eyes.

Having only one eye did not mean the quiet rage—or perhaps madness—burning within him was halved. This thought briefly crossed the shouting demon’s mind.

That’s how intensely madness and fury blazed in the man’s eyes.

“S-stop him now!”

“Hmm.”

The demons simultaneously felt two emotions surge within them.

One was fear of the man who resembled a butcher.

The other was irritation at his unpleasant smile.

Fortunately or not, the demons’ irritation outweighed their fear, and they charged at the exhausted, crazed man.

And unfortunately, one demon’s bone spear successfully pierced the weak spot between his armor plates, stabbing his vulnerable side.

“I-I did it—”

The demon rejoicing at confirming that this madman was indeed a fragile mortal was left with only a jaw. The man’s blood-caked sword had struck off the demon’s head.

“Hmm.”

The man was still smiling. But the demons noticed he was paler than before. And that his hands were trembling.

The look in the demons’ eyes changed.

They thought the end of the man before them was near.

But the demons had forgotten one crucial fact.

That this was a battlefield.

“Knights of Feralant! Rescue Sir Dominic!”

The sound of a horn echoed across the battlefield. In the distance, the heads of armored horses appeared over the hill. No, many horses’ heads appeared.

Upon them sat knights in brilliant armor, though stained with the blood of countless foes.

At their front was a woman in equally brilliant white and gold armor, still wielding a sharp sword and commanding the knights.

Who wouldn’t recognize this female knight?

Lady Alice, the rightful heir of Feralant.

Known as one of those who achieved the greatest merits in the Great War, she had come to rescue this exhausted man.

The knights charged. And the demons fled.

The chaotic battlefield situation was quickly being resolved.

“Sir Dominic!”

Lady Alice looked at his disheveled state.

“You came too quickly. I could have killed three hundred more. Hmm.”

Sir Dominic smiled faintly.

Despite his confident words, his body told a different story. His dented armor was unrecognizable in shape, his shield painted a dark red that obscured its original color. His sword was more like a blood-covered club than a blade, reflecting his condition.

“Sir Dominic, go to the rear immediately. Get treatment from the clerics, then return to the battlefield.”

Lady Alice whistled. A resting horse crossed the battlefield to approach him.

But Sir Dominic merely smiled. He knew his body’s condition best.

“If I rest now, I won’t be able to rise until the war ends. Better to fight until the end.”

He swung his shield arm to show he was fine.

“See? I’m perfectly fine.”

Since his injury was on his sword arm side, he thought it sufficient to deceive the Lady before him.

But the Lady saw through his condition.

Yet she found it difficult to insist he return to the rear.

She had also noticed the fanatical rage hidden behind his seemingly happy smile.

“…Very well. But you do need rest, so follow behind the knights and eliminate the stragglers.”

Sir Dominic sighed with dissatisfaction, but Alice’s will was firm.

The Lady stared steadily at Sir Dominic. As if to say, I’ve compromised, so you should too.

“Fine. I’ll follow without overdoing it.”

The negotiation was settled, with each side taking a step back.

In truth, the Lady wanted to send Sir Dominic firmly to the rear, and Sir Dominic wanted to be at the front line, but they both knew the battlefield was too urgent a place for tantrums.

Though their true feelings remained different.

“Sir Dominic should follow slowly. It would be best if you came with the follow-up forces.”

“I’ll catch up as quickly as possible, my lord.”

Sir Dominic smiled twice as brightly as usual.

He’s definitely planning something. The Lady sighed.

Having spent long years on the battlefield together, they knew each other well.

“Knights! Reform the ranks! We shall break through to what appears to be the enemy commander in one charge!”

While the tired horses rested briefly, the knights had already completed their reorganization.

The Lady’s words were meant to give Sir Dominic as much rest as possible, and though unlike Sir Dominic, the knights came from knightly and noble families, they began reforming as slowly as possible out of respect for him.

From the beginning, the situation had been turning in the Empire’s favor. With the Empire’s overwhelming will and remarkable science, they had cornered the demons, making a careful strategy to deliver the final blow preferable to recklessness.

But Sir Dominic still responded with a happy smile full of discontent.

Grinning, Sir Dominic took out a handkerchief from a small bag he carried and wiped away the blood.

The handkerchief was too small compared to the sticky blood, so he only managed to clean his face, but just being able to see clearly made Sir Dominic happy.

If he wasn’t happy, he felt he might die.

Had he momentarily forgotten the pain in the endless battle? Suddenly, intense pain struck Sir Dominic.

The pain that started from his side where the demon had stabbed him was now striking his entire body, traveling through muscle and bone.

But the pain subsided quickly.

Though it had been quite dangerous, Sir Dominic didn’t show it. He didn’t even tell Alice, his lord.

Just telling himself it was only a momentary pain.

“Now, charge again!”

While Sir Dominic briefly felt his body’s abnormality, the knights began charging again.

The timing was too perfect to wait any longer.

The Empire was winning.

The demons had lost their will to fight and were fleeing toward the portal connected to their home realm, the Demon Realm.

Entities that appeared to be commanders tried desperately to stop the Empire’s advancing forces, but the Empire was superior.

And historically, cavalry was most effective against fleeing enemies.

“This is the final charge! Collect as many heads as possible! Show that the Empire’s knights still set the example!”

After the Lady’s shout from the front, a knight beside her blew a horn. It was the signal to charge at full speed.

With a crash, a massive collision occurred behind the fleeing demons.

The demons didn’t even have time to scream before becoming chunks of meat scattered in all directions.

Sir Dominic was following the knights’ direction with quick steps.

Though his lord had told him to come slowly and eliminate stragglers left by the knights, the knights’ valor was so excellent that there was nothing to do but run after them.

Instead, Sir Dominic surveyed the battlefield.

His vision, which had narrowed from fighting like a madman, began to widen again.

While knights on the ground chased demon stragglers, dragon riders and airships could be seen in the sky. The Empire’s tradition and science were joining hands to announce the Empire’s majesty to the world.

Swords and cannons. Bows and bullets. Technologies that were thought incompatible until a few years ago had developed through war. And they were undeniably effective at sweeping away demons.

How wonderful it would have been if this had happened earlier.

Sir Dominic was happy.

Then, his sister wouldn’t have died.

Sir Dominic smiled.

Then, he wouldn’t have found happiness in killing like this.

Sir Dominic was happy because he didn’t want to die.

His contemplation was nearly over. The war was also nearing its end. Victory was close.

But as always, tragedy strikes when one feels secure.

“Commander! Danger!”

“You! Woman! I’ll kill at least you!”

A wretched demon hiding under corpses rushed at the Lady with a bone knife. The other knights had scattered to deal with stragglers, and though the nearest knight turned his horse to save her, the demon’s attack seemed likely to land first.

The Lady was startled but calmly raised her sword. But was it a miracle born of the demon’s desperate killing intent? The demon’s blade curved strangely with the wind, breaking through the Lady’s defense and aiming for her throat.

The Lady widened her eyes. She needed to escape this situation somehow, but time flowed too slowly. Meanwhile, the demon’s blade, flinging an ominous liquid, was approaching faster than expected.

There was no answer. The Lady squeezed her eyes shut.

“Danger, my lord!”

How tiresome. Yes. It was a predictable situation.

Sir Dominic rushed in front of the Lady as he was running.

He managed to slam his shield into the demon’s philtrum, but that strange blade pierced the wound in his side again.

Ah, this time I’m definitely going to die.

Sir Dominic thought.

The Lady, still fully focused, slowly watched Sir Dominic fall to the ground in a heap with the demon.

What. Is. This.

The Lady couldn’t understand the situation for a moment. Then she denied it. But soon she realized and accepted what had happened.

‘This hurts like hell.’

Those were Sir Dominic’s last words.

…To be honest, it’s a truly tiresome and boring cliché.

The difference between reality and fiction is that in reality, people can die in truly meaningless ways.

At least I wanted to leave proper last words.

“Hmm.”

I smiled.

“So, why are you witnessing my end?”

Before me, something in a suit was writing something on an electronic device. I couldn’t see its face. For security reasons or whatever.

“To prove your worth in GachaLand, where you’re about to go.”

Man or woman? Its voice sounded divided, or perhaps merged from many.

“Worth, huh.”

Hmm. I smiled.

“That makes me happy. Truly.”

“Now, since we’ve confirmed your worth, let’s choose your special privilege… Yes. Would you like to choose a special privilege? Usually, people negotiate, threaten, and so on…”

“I don’t want anything else. It’s enough if I can fight sufficiently.”

The suit on the opposite side maintained silence for a moment.

“That can’t be. People like you especially want more things. Tell me what you really want. Beating around the bush won’t work.”

“But it’s true.”

I scratched my head awkwardly.

“Let greedy fellows have such things. I just want battles so desperate that I don’t have time for stray thoughts.”

The suit, which had been writing something on the electronic device, stopped and looked into my eyes.

Well, since I only have one eye, the burden is halved.

I added words I didn’t need to, feeling slightly guilty.

“That’s happiness for me. I need to be happy enough to die. Because if I’m not happy, I feel like I’ll die.”

Whether my rambling words had some effect, the suit sighed.

“Fine. You will now go to GachaLand. Let me say again, there you must either join under a commander, admiral, teacher, manager, or whatever, or become such a person yourself. That’s the rule.”

“You said there’s no benefit to going alone. I understand.”

“To do that, you must demonstrate your value. It doesn’t matter how. You can use blood ties, regional connections, school connections, or appeal to your talents and specialties. The higher your value, the easier it will be to achieve what you want.”

“I like that. Enough to be happy.”

“In GachaLand, death means the moment your value disappears. Until then, you can come back to life even if you die. If your superior wants it, that is.”

“The most desperate death. How dreadful.”

“Now, if you understand the general content… please sign here.”

I sign on the electronic device… what was it called, a tablet? With a plastic fragment. Since I’m confused about the spelling of my name, I just draw two dots and a smiling mouth. A sign of happiness.

“Good.”

The suit took back the electronic device. After checking if there was anything strange, it extended its hand to me.

“Welcome to GachaLand, Sir Dominic. May you have a happy day.”

And those words were the most pleasing sound I’d heard since coming here.